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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25921114">The Road to Family</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Living_Underground/pseuds/Living_Underground'>Living_Underground</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The X-Files</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, I mean, IVF Arc (X-Files), Scully and Mulder discuss menstruation, WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?, and sperm donation, whilst on the way to a case</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:48:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,822</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25921114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Living_Underground/pseuds/Living_Underground</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mid-season 5 start of the IVF-arc. A discussion in a car.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fox Mulder/Dana Scully</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>117</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Road to Family</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The more research I did for this, the more I think I should probably go talk to my doctor about my menstrual cycle when we are able to go see our doctors face to face again, because, like, mine is truly fucked up. But then it always has been, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ </p><p>This was inspired by background research I was doing for my dissertation for next year on the menstrual cycle and creativity. That and the fact that my period's making me really miserable at the moment and I needed something with a touch of angst, a dash of humour and just a little fluff.</p><p>Thank you GillianG86 for the name!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘I need to use the bathroom at the next rest stop,’ Scully said absently as she scanned through the casefile on her lap.</p><p>‘Sure, no problem. We should probably fill up, anyway: we’re heading into the wilds.’</p><p>Eye-rolls abound, ‘it’s Tennessee, Mulder, not Outer Mongolia. There will be gas stations and civilisation in close proximity should we run out – we’ve been to more cut off places in our time.’</p><p>They settle into their usual amiable silence, the occasional snick of a sunflower seed husk or the turning of a page their background music until Mulder pulls into the gas station. ‘You need anything?’ he calls as she disappears around the back to the bathrooms, purse slung over her shoulder. She shakes her head, as she always does. She’s Scully; always prepared, always packed well in advance. She never needs more than what she’s got with her because when she’s packing she’s thinking about packing, rather than thinking about aliens.</p><p>She was back in the car by the time he was done paying, knocking back two Advil with a bottle of water.</p><p>‘You good?’</p><p>‘Yeah. Only three more hours of driving left,’ she sighs, dropping her head back and closing her eyes.</p><p> ‘You love it really,’ he murmurs as he pulls back onto the highway, glancing across at her as her brow furrowed, expecting a sarcastic comment and receiving a pensive silence.</p><p>He wasn’t stupid - well, okay, not <em>entirely</em> stupid – he knew she only asked for a bathroom break when she was on her period, knew she only took her bag to the bathroom with her when she needed tampons. She fidgeted more, too, when she was on her period, never able to find a comfortable position whether she was sat in a car or at a desk. But that didn’t normally prevent her from quipping back. He blindly reaches a hand into his pocket and pulled out a double Snickers, tearing the wrapper and removing one with his teeth before proffering the other to her, ‘I ownwy wan’ wawn.’</p><p>‘Thanks,’ she smiles as she takes the candy, knowing that he brought it for her but didn’t want to say anything, worried she’d reject him. He did this every time, his MO.</p><p>‘Can I ask you something, Scully?’</p><p>She looks over at him, cautious as she chews the chocolate; Mulder never asked to ask, ‘sure…doesn’t mean I’ll answer, but go ahead.’</p><p>‘Why do you still get your period?’ her eyebrows raised, and before she could squeak out an indignant <em>excuse me?</em> around caramel and nougat glued teeth, he was hurrying on with an explanation, ‘I mean, since they took your eggs, surely there’s no reason for your body to go through this every month…?’</p><p>Her indignation fades slowly as she thinks about her answer, taking the last bite of her chocolate whilst figuring out how to explain. ‘Just because there isn’t an egg, doesn’t mean there aren’t still the hormones that regulate menstruation. As far as my body is concerned, it still <em>thinks</em> there are eggs to release each month, still thinks my uterus needs preparing to take that egg and fertilise it, and so still needs to shed the lining every month. Technically, I don’t menstruate – it’s called an anovulatory cycle. It’s why I didn’t-’ she pauses, staring down at her lap, the piece of skin she’s tearing at around her thumb ‘-it’s why I didn’t notice, after I was returned. Not until I was having my check-ups after remission.’</p><p>‘They don’t…you can’t tell at all? They don’t <em>feel</em> any different?’</p><p>A slow headshake, ‘no. They’re slightly more irregular now, but not so much that it was a concern.’</p><p>‘Can’t you stop them? I mean, if you can’t, you know, get pregnant, can’t you just stop them?’</p><p>‘My doctor suggested various forms of birth control, but none of them is without their side effects, so I don’t see the point,’ she shrugs then looks over at him, a small smile touching her lips, ‘besides, I uh, I’m looking into IVF.’</p><p>He stares at her. So many thoughts flash through his head he barely has time to grasp onto them. Some of them he misses altogether.</p><p>Her eyes are widening and her arm is reaching across him to pull the steering wheel just as a horn blares, ‘Jesus, Mulder, are you trying to get us killed?!’</p><p>‘I…I…shit,’ he pulls onto the shoulder and drops his head to the steering wheel, trying to slow his heart down. ‘You need to leave the X-files.’</p><p>That…probably wasn’t the right thing to say. Not judging by her open mouth and the hurt expression plastered across her face. ‘I tell you some of the best news I had in the past few years and you tell me I need to leave the X-files? Fuck you, Mulder. This is my quest just as much as it is yours now. It’s my body they screwed with, my ova they stole, lest you forget. I’m not leaving just because you think I’m lesser, just because you don’t value family, just because I’m a woman and I want a child-‘</p><p>‘Scully, stop. Stop. I just-‘ he heaves a sigh as he tries to order his racing thoughts ‘-I meant that you can’t be doing this, travelling across country, driving for hours on end, running through forests and bullet fire, whilst trying for a baby. And when you get your baby, you need to spend all of your time being a mom – a great mom. Just…I’d have said the same if you’d been able to keep Emily, too. I don’t think you’re lesser, or weak. I just want to protect you, because you’re my family. Okay? That’s all I meant,’ he reaches a hand over and takes hers, ‘I promise. It’s really great news, Scully.’</p><p>She nods, slowly, the smile that had brushed across her lips blooming fully, ‘thank you.’</p><p>‘No problem,’ he smiles, pulling away again. ‘So, you, uh, you get to choose a guy, like out of a catalogue? Sort of like buying a couch?’ he’d meant it as a joke, but the images of Scully and a little boy, a thatch of blond curls and her startling blue eyes, some other man’s DNA mingling with hers, betrayed him with bitter, jealous thoughts, letting the humour fall flat.</p><p>A frown crosses her previously happy face, ‘well, I think there are a few more things to consider than when one buys a couch, but yes, that is essentially how it works. But there are other options, too. I can ask someone I know, someone I trust.’</p><p>‘And that would be your preferred choice?’</p><p>‘Yes, I think so. If I can’t do it the old fashioned way, I would like to at least try to have a child with someone I already have a connection with. Just to make it a little more personal, a little less like a science experiment.’</p><p>‘You got someone in mind? I’m sure Skinner would jump at the chance,’ another joke that never even got off the ground.</p><p>‘I don’t think asking my boss for his sperm is a particularly good idea. It would probably make budget meetings uncomfortable.’</p><p>That elicits a snort from him, and he thinks that maybe she’s okay with joking about this after all, ‘what about Byers? He’s smart, likeable. And not unattractive in a certain light.’</p><p>She laughs, ‘I’ll tell him you said that. But alas, I think perhaps Frohike would be jealous.’</p><p>‘You could always get all three of the Gunmen to, you know, all into the same…and then it would be kind of like a pot lu-‘</p><p>‘<em>Mulder!</em>’ a horrified look is on her face when he glances over at her with a smirk, ‘you’re disgusting. Truly, truly disgusting. Ugh, I’m never going to be able to go into their office again now, you know that right?’ she was shaking her head, but her scowl couldn’t hide the grin she was attempting to stifle.</p><p>He lets the subject drop whilst she’s happy, not wanting to actually know who he’d have to accept as the father of her child. He couldn’t think of many more men she knew, though that wasn’t to say she didn’t know other people outside of work she’d never bothered to tell him about. She didn’t really talk about her life away from him; what little time there was for that to commence. He only got dribs and drabs about her family. The occasional mention of old school friends, few and far between. For all he knew, she was seeing someone and she’d never told him, never introduced them. Perhaps she was too ashamed of her spooky work partner. Perhaps she didn’t want him to feel bad about all the times he dragged her away for work. She probably went home to this guy and bitched about him each night. It would explain why she was thinking about having a child, and why she wasn’t just using an anonymous donor.</p><p>‘Actually,’ she breaks him from his thoughts with a soft, quiet voice – if he didn’t know her better, he would have said she sounded shy – ‘I was going to ask you.’</p><p>The breaks squeal as they burn rubber into the tarmac, one of Scully’s arms automatically reaching across to brace him as her other lands on the dash. They’re both breathing heavily as the second blast of a horn echos around them. ‘Scully,’ he says, voice forced into a quiet, calm, controlled tone, ‘please repeat what you just said.’</p><p>‘I said that I was going to ask you about being my donor.’</p><p>‘Okay. Okay, that’s what I thought you said,’ and with that he was turning the engine back on as he put the car into reverse, swinging it back and pulling round to head back in the direction they came from.</p><p>‘Mulder, what the hell are you doing?’</p><p>‘Going home. We’re going back home and we’re going to sit down with tea or coffee or vodka or whatever we need and we are going to discuss this. Not in a layby or a motel. We’re going to talk all of this through.’</p><p>‘Mulder, we’re on a case! We’ve just driven five hours and now you want to drive five hours back without even meeting with the local PD?’</p><p>‘Scully, I will not be able to concentrate on anything until we’ve talked about this. And I don’t want to have that talk somewhere we’re both not comfortable with. So we’re going home. We can go to your place or mine, but we’re going home and we’re going to think about this. Okay?’</p><p>‘Okay. Well, what do you want to know?’</p><p>He shakes his head, ‘we’re not talking about it in the car.’</p><p>Ten miles later, he looks over as she stares pensively out of the window. ‘Why me, Scully?’</p><p>‘Because,’ she says, reaching over to take his hand, ‘you’re my family.’</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If anyone can come up with a title for this, I'd be really grateful.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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